3 ms·

The autopilot feature seems like one that should be taken through rigorous testing approved by the appropriate regulatory structure before being allowed out on

The autopilot feature seems like one that should be taken through rigorous testing approved by the appropriate regulatory structure before being allowed out on the roads. The fact that Tesla has been able to simply update firmware to include this experimental new feature on their vehicles as they please feels very "wild west" and as much as I don't tend to prefer regulation, this feels like the proper place for it. By the way, this has been my feeling on the matter before any autopilot crashes were reported.

eatporktoo 10y ago
The real problem is, how do you actually design a test that will catch these issues. If you have 3 crashes in millions of miles, you are pretty unlikely to find those errors during testing. I wish Tesla was more open about the way the actually test their Autopilot software.
- danso 10y ago
  While automated driving is a relatively new field, the science and data of traffic conditions and accidents is quite deep. You don't have to blindly wait until your beta users get into accidents. In the case of the first fatality, how is it possible that Tesla engineers were unaware of a situation in which a lightly-colored vehicle might show up on days in which the sky is bright? Of course they were aware of that situation. They chose to deprioritize that to reduce the incidence of false positives that came from overhead highway signs. Nothing wrong with attempting to squash false positives, which can lead to deadly situations themselves. But there was nothing preventing Tesla from doing adequate testing to determine what unintended consequences their software modifications would entail. They don't have to wait for someone to get decapitated to realize that there's a trade off in reducing false positives from overhead signs.

3 ms·

The autopilot feature seems like one that should be taken through rigorous testing approved by the appropriate regulatory structure before being allowed out on

by hanklazard 10y ago

eatporktoo 10y ago
The real problem is, how do you actually design a test that will catch these issues. If you have 3 crashes in millions of miles, you are pretty unlikely to find those errors during testing. I wish Tesla was more open about the way the actually test their Autopilot software.
- danso 10y ago
  While automated driving is a relatively new field, the science and data of traffic conditions and accidents is quite deep. You don't have to blindly wait until your beta users get into accidents. In the case of the first fatality, how is it possible that Tesla engineers were unaware of a situation in which a lightly-colored vehicle might show up on days in which the sky is bright? Of course they were aware of that situation. They chose to deprioritize that to reduce the incidence of false positives that came from overhead highway signs. Nothing wrong with attempting to squash false positives, which can lead to deadly situations themselves. But there was nothing preventing Tesla from doing adequate testing to determine what unintended consequences their software modifications would entail. They don't have to wait for someone to get decapitated to realize that there's a trade off in reducing false positives from overhead signs.